Leonard Jacob Crawford
Source: "History of Laclede, Camden, Dallas, Webster, Wright, Texas,
Pulaski, Phelps and Dent Counties, Missouri", Chicago: The Goodspeed Publishing
Co. 1889; Transcribed by K. Mohler
LEONARD JACOB CRAWFORD
is one of the able and distinguished members of the Kentucky bar. He is a native
of the city of Newport, Kentucky, which is the present scene of his activities.
The date of his nativity was April 29, 1860, and his father was Jacob Howard
Crawford, in whose veins were mingled the Scotch, Irish, French and English
elements. The grandfather, Joshua Crawford, was born in Fleming county,
Kentucky, where his father, James Crawford, a veteran of the war of 1812, was a
well-known farmer and a citizen of consideration in his community. The father
was born in Fleming county and subsequently found his way to Newport, which was
his home while he pursued the occupation of an Ohio river pilot, running from
Cincinnati to Pittsburg. His untimely demise occurred in 1860, when but
twenty-nine years of age, in the very year of the subject’s birth. The elder Mr.
Crawford’s mother’s name previous to her marriage was Mary Howard and she was a
daughter of Jacob Howard, who was a Virginian and of English descent.
Mr. Crawford’s mother was Mary Elizabeth Eckert, daughter of Leonard M. Eckert,
of Newport, Kentucky, whose father was also Leonard Eckert, who with his young
wife landed at old Fort Limestone, now Maysville, on Christmas eve, 1789, having
come down the Ohio river from Fort Pitt (Pittsburgh) in a little boat
constructed by him and his accompanying relatives. As might have been expected
their journey was a perilous one in many respects and was enlivened by several
encounters with the Indians, who occasionally challenged their progress. The
young wife referred to was a daughter of Colonel William Cheshire, who not long
before had fallen while serving his country as an officer in the Revolutionary
war. She was a first cousin to Richard M. Johnson, vice-president of the United
States during the administration of Martin Van Buren, and she was likewise first
cousin to Kentucky’s prime hero, Daniel Boone. She and her husband had gone from
Lancaster, Pennsylvania, to Fort Pitt, the former place having been the
husband’s birthplace. His parents, George and Susan Eckert, were natives of
Berlin, Prussia, but migrated to Lancaster.
Mr. Crawford received his early education in the schools of his native place and
in 1876 entered Hughes high school in Cincinnati, Ohio, from which he was
graduated in 1880. His natural inclinations were toward the legal profession and
it was his privilege to enter the law office of the Hon. Benjamin Butterworth,
then in Congress from Cincinnati. He read law with that distinguished gentleman
and also in the Cincinnati Law School, from which he was graduated in 1882. He
was admitted to the Kentucky bar at Newport on January 4, 1882, and has here
practiced law since that day, with the exception of the year 1883-4, when he
resided in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Mr. Crawford’s attainments are of the highest character and during the course of
his successful career he has met many grave questions with valor and ability. He
is passionately devoted to the principles of the Republican party to which he
has subscribed from his earliest voting days, and in 1891 was nominated for
attorney general of Kentucky. He has been three times elected president of the
State League of Republican Clubs, in 1893, 1894 and 1895. He was also Republican
candidate for elector from the state at large in the year 1892. In 1897-8 he
received as a signal mark of honor from his party the office of the presidency
of the National League of Republican Clubs. On the committee that prepared the
charter for second class cities Mr. Crawford was the member who represented the
interests of Newport. He has ever been ready to do anything, to go anywhere to
proclaim the ideas and support the candidates of his party whose principles he
believes to be most potent in promoting the welfare of society at large. In the
matter of religious faith Mr. Crawford is Methodist Episcopal, and gives his
heart and hand to the campaign for good inaugurated by the church body.
On January 16, 1883, the subject laid the foundations of a happy and congenial
life companionship by his union with Ella J. Horner, of Campbell county,
Kentucky. Mrs. Crawford is a daughter Charles H. Horner, who with his father,
John Horner, came to Kentucky from Virginia in 1830. Her great-grandfather,
Joseph Horner, was a Virginian who gave seven years’ service in the
Revolutionary war and died in Campbell county, Virginia, in 1803. Mr. and Mrs.
Crawford have given two admirable young citizens to the state in their sons,
Leonard Jacob Crawford, Jr., and Clay Crawford. The elder son was born November
7, 1886, and was graduated from Yale in 1908. He entered the Cincinnati Law
School, his father’s alma mater, from which he was graduated in 1910, his
admission to the bar having been previously, in May, 1909. He is practicing law
in Newport and is unmarried. Clay Crawford, born September 15, 1888, was
graduated from Yale in 1909, entered the Ohio and Miami Medical College in 1909,
and is a student there at the present time. His residence is in Campbell county
and he is unmarried.